710,000 families in cash transfer list

Susan Mochache, principal secretary, State Department of Social Protection. PHOTO | Robert Ngugi

Some 710,000 households are set to receive bi-monthly stipends from next week, under the State’s Inua Jamii cash transfer programme targeted at poverty alleviation.

The Sh2.8 billion disbursement through county and sub-county offices is for the November-December 2017 period whose payment started on February 2.

Under the plan, the government has disbursed Sh1.4 billion for orphaned and vulnerable children, Sh188 million for people with severe disabilities and Sh1.24 billion for senior citizens aged above 65.

“In this payment cycle that ends on February 22 households that will receive the cash transfer are 310,000 under senior citizens, 353,000 under ophans and 47,000 under disabled categories,” said Susan Mochache, principal secretary, State Department of Social Protection.

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The current payment cycle does not include the newly unveiled cash transfer programme for senior citizens aged above 70 years. This lot that falls under the enhanced senior citizens will receive their first bi-monthly stipend in March.

The enhanced stipend plan was a key campaign promise by the Jubilee administration last year intended to convince senior citizens to back the party’s presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta.

So far, 523,129 senior citizens over 70 years have been registered to receive the March stipend, following a countrywide drive from June to August last year.

The ministry is expected to communicate the final list of beneficiaries.

Once out, the list will be filtered and beneficiaries enrolled into the programme before the first payment. The Treasury allocated Sh6.7 billion to kick-start the scheme in the first half of the year to June.

During the January-February payment cycle, the State planned to use Sh2 billion.